Washington DC, Day 3

On Sunday we started our day with a trip to the Washington Monument. Fortunately, I preordered our tickets in March. I felt bad for the folks who didn't know they needed tickets to ride to the top of the monument. By the time we finished our tour (which was only the 4th tour of the day), all the tickets for the entire day were gone.

The view from the top was pretty amazing. We got to stand near the doors on the elevator on the way down so we were able to see the states' memorial stones.

After visiting the monument, we walked closer to the White House and took a couple pictures. We got a pretty good view from up in the Memorial, so the kids opted not to walk all the way across the Eclipse to get a close up view of the front.

We spent the afternoon at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. We were going to go to the Air & Space Museum, too, but never made it that far. The kids really enjoyed the museum. Everything was so well done. Danielle liked the Hall of Mammals and the butterfly exhibit. She and I paid the extra fee and walked through together. There were butterflies from other parts of the world that we would never have gotten to see otherwise. We really liked the huge blue morpho butterflies, but they would not sit still long enough for pictures. I think Danielle would have stayed in there all day if I'd let her. Tyler enjoyed the Ocean Hall and the Geology, Gems, & Minerals Hall. We got to see the Hope Diamond. Although it's 45+ carats, both kids grumbled that it was rather small. I think they were envisioning a huge cartoon-like diamond sitting on big plush pillow. Both kids enjoyed the hands-on Discovery Lab. (Yes, Danielle is holding duck feet. She also held a coyote tongue.) We had a great time exploring the museum. I think the kids would have enjoyed the Air & Space Museum, too, but we just didn't have enough time or energy to fit that in, too.

Later in the day, Tyler and I walked over to look at the Jefferson Memorial. Danielle's feet hurt, so she and Ron sat along the Potomac and watched the planes take off. (We never made it to the Roosevelt Memorial.) Once she recovered, we all walked to the back of the White House for another view. While we were there, the kids got to see a couple peaceful protesters and we got to reiterate the importance of the Bill of Rights. At that point, Danielle said, "You mean I can say anything? Like Boo Obama!?" That's one of the wonderful things we take for granted about being an American; You can stand right outside the president's home and shout "Boo Obama!" if you really want to. I'm not sure reading about all this in a history book would drive it home nearly as well as actually being there and learning about it firsthand. I'm thankful we had the opportunity to share all this with the kids. It was a good weekend.